Very few Europeans rejoiced today at the second election of Donald Trump as president of the United States. During his first term four years ago he treated the European Union as a spoiled child that deserved less attention.
In the Middle East, on the other hand, his presidency had quite an impact.
Trump left the nuclear deal with Iran, the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, throwing with it 10 years of negotiations with Teheran in the rubbish bin.
He also moved the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem — a symbolic act that pleased rightwing Israel a lot.
And for many Middle Easterners, the Biden administration was a lot less effective.
President Biden didn’t succeed in reviving the nuclear deal and didn’t move the embassy back to Tel Aviv. The US couldn’t help to prevent the attack of Hamas on Israel on 7 October 2023.
At the same time, it was unable to push the Israeli government to a less brutal response or a long-during ceasefire. Benjamin Netanyahu didn’t bother to listen to Biden when the latter requested not to attack Lebanon, or Iran.
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